(KWMN)- The Winona Sports Network Daily Round-Up is the one place to get all the headlines from the sports world, and local sports world. An extension of the morning sports updates from “In the Know” with Jason Melilo on KNWO, every weekday morning at 7:00 a.m.
Year #2 Begins
The Winona State Warrior Football team will report to Maxwell Field today for their first fall practice of the 2023-24 season. Brian Bergstrom leads the team in his second year in charge, this time around with new coaches, new players, and a new attitude. The team made the NCAA-D2 playoffs last season, setting the standard for what Bergstrom expects year in and year out.
The Warriors will open their season Thursday, August 31st at Saginaw Valley State.
Brooms All Around!
The Twins had a stellar weekend, sweeping the Diamondbacks in three games and doing so in exciting fashion last night. Down 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, the Twins bats managed to tie it up, and then it was Matt Wallner that came up clutch with a two-run shot to right field that got the Twins over the finish line, winning 5-3. Dallas Keuchel made his Twins debut, and looked somewhat like his old self, pitching five innings, and only giving up one run. He had been Abysmal in his last couple of years in the league, but as he embarks on a redemption tour, this was a great first start.
After the weekend, the Twins took their AL Central lead to 4.5 games, but the job is far from finished. A four-game set with the Tigers awaits, first pitch in game one tonight at 5:40, coverage begins at 5:00, only on KWNO, AM 1230 FM 98.7.
Who Let Him Take THAT Number???
Vikings training camp continues today from Eagan, MN. A full pad workout is scheduled for today as team begins to ramp up practice ahead of their first pre-season game Thursday night against the Seahawks. The Vikes also signed former first-round pick, N’Keal Harry to a contract. The 25-year-old wideout has, for the most part, been quite underwhelming in the NFL. In a corresponding move the Vikes sent D-lineman James Lynch, who tore his ACL, to the IR.
The Vikes are willing to take a flier on Harry, and why not, especially when there’s room at the bottom of the wideout depth chart. The issue is that Harry is reportedly taking the #28. The first Viking (outside of a couple of preseason players in years past) to have the honor of wearing #28 since Adrian Peterson, is N’Keal Harry. A jailable offense for Harry for picking the number in the first place and for whoever allowed this to happen. Unacceptable.
It’s A New Era, get on the Train or Get Left Behind.
While Gopher football training camp is moving along smoothly, the rest of college football embarks on change.
Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah are all officially accepted into the Big 12. While Washington and Oregon make the move to the BIG 10. And the PAC-“12” is now on the brink of extinction after 108 years in college athletics. They have options, albeit nonlucrative, but options, nonetheless. The Mountain West Conference seems to be talked about as the next domino to fall. What happens with that conference, and the PAC-“12” remains to be seen. Would one conference absorb the other? That seems likely, but does it then become a completely new conference? Stay as the Mountain West? Stay as the PAC-12? Who knows, but I’d be shocked if this is the last we see of conference realignment.
Look, it stinks, it’s sad, it’s not something the majority of college football fans wanted, including, for the most part, myself. Unfortunately, it is what it is. The suits that work for TV companies make the moves happen, they are in essence, the CEOs of college football. Dangling their puppet strings left and right in order to acquire as many coins as they can. There’s nothing the common man can do about it. Because the fact of the matter is, whether there’s a PAC-12 or the super-duper western alliance of American College Athletics, people are going to watch college football. Us football fans are weak, and we’ve been deprived of something we love for months, as we are every year. And as we do every year, we circle opening weekend of college football on the calendar, and we make plans to watch 12 straight hours of amateur athletics on the first Saturday of the season. That won’t change and may never change. So, one can sulk, and there will be many that do, but might as well just hop on the train and enjoy the wild west that has become college football.
A Comeback and a Heartbreak for the Ages
Lucas Glover claimed the top spot at the Wyndham championship over the weekend, shooting a total score of -20. Glover, who entered the tournament at 112th in the Fed Ex Cup standings, earned enough points to skyrocket to 49th, and qualifying for the Fed Ex Cup playoffs.
Unfortunately, not everyone can make it. For these Fed Ex Cup playoffs, Justin Thomas will be watching from home. He played well over the weekend. Shooting a total of -11 over four rounds, but the early projections that indicated he would need just a T18th finish, weren’t correct. He needed a mere one stroke and would’ve earned enough points to slip into the playoff field. What’s worse, is that he finishes in 71st place, nine points shy of the 70th spot. What’s even worse than that, is that on the final hole of his final round yesterday, Justin Thomas had a chip to bridie the hole. The chip was a dime, but it just had too much speed. Thomas’s golf ball scorched the flag stick and kicked out of the cup. If that shot goes in, he’s headed to the Playoffs, but it didn’t, and that’s golf for ya. Justin Thomas will now shakily await the Ryder Cup selections from captain Zach Johnson.
A Historic Exit
The U.S.A Women’s National Team came into the FIFA Women’s World Cup as the heavy favorites, they leave as the team with the earliest exit form a World Cup in U.S. Women’s soccer history. It’s a clear disappointment. One that is enhanced based off the way they lost–In a PK shootout, where the final kicked crossed the goal line by a mere centimeter. They never looked as good as everyone was expecting, but no one really expected them to lose this early. Sweden gets revenge after falling to the hand of the Americans many times before, but they aren’t the story outside of Sweden, the story is how disappointing the U.S. was. Not only in this game, but all tournament long. The bright spot is, this should show the U.S. soccer federation that the rest of the world has caught up to them, and they shouldn’t be taking anything for granted. Hopefully this serves as motivation moving forward. It’ll be a long four years until the next Women’s World Cup in 2027.
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